Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L63/00—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
  • H04L63/10—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for controlling access to devices or network resources
  • H04L63/105—Multiple levels of security

Definitions

• the invention relates generally to communication networks, and more particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for interfacing a communication network to an external element.
• a communication network is typically designed to provide a vast array of functions and services to the users of the network.
• new functions and features are conceived and developed that may enhance the communication network. Some of these new functions may lie outside the architecture of the existing communication network. Adaptation of these new functions to the communication network may require costly redesign and implementation of the communication network.
• the communication network may be designed with a proprietary architecture and data structure that limits an ability to directly integrate these newly developed functions.
• Feature extraction refers to the adaptability of the network to new services, features and functions that may be developed by virtually anyone including service providers, system operators, third party vendors and end- users.
• FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustration of a communication network coupled to an external element by an apparatus in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating the interface of an external element to a communication network in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 3 is- a functional block diagram illustration of a services delivery element in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a services delivery element in accordance with one of the preferred embodiments of the invention illustrating further functionality of the services delivery element.
• FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram illustrating services invocation between a communication network and an external element in accordance with one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention.
• FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustration of a communication network coupled to an external element by an apparatus in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
• a services delivery element forms an interface or operates as an interface device between an external element (such as an external end user's network feature server) and a communication network including both a core network and at least one access network.
• the services delivery element provides access to the core network, access networks and subscriber devices within or connected to the access networks to which the external element is interfaced.
• the services delivery element acts as a security proxy and a secure link point between the external element and the core network.
• the services delivery element may also provide managed access by the external element to core network and access network resources.
• the services delivery element may also recognize or identify trusted external elements; identify preferential external elements; provide secure access to subscriber data retained within the core network; identify and deny access by untrusted external elements; translate between the external element and the core network; and provide limited access to particular subsets of core network data and/or functions by the external element.
• a core network 10 is interfaced to an access network 12.
• the core network 10 may be a packet based communication network adapted to provide voice and data communication services via the access network 12, which may be a radio access network.
• a radio access network provides wireless voice and data communication services to a mobile unit, such as the mobile unit 14, and may do so in accordance with virtually any wireless communication protocol.
• the invention provides an interface for external elements to both the core network 10, the access network 12, and the mobile unit 14. To simplify the following discussion of the preferred embodiments of the invention, reference is made only to the core network 10.
• API application program interfaces
• FIG. 2 within the core network 10 is a variety of application program interfaces (API) 18, which interface services and functional components within the core network 10.
• API 19 and API 20 are considered to be internal APIs, and as such have "trusted" status within the core network 10. That is, these APIs have access to the core network 10 without having to first authenticate and establish a secure interface with the core network.
• external APIs 22 such as applications API 23 and services API 24. While only two external APIs 23 and 24 are shown, it should be understood that numerous external APIs might be provided.
• External APIs 22 are considered “untrusted” APIs and do not have the same, direct access to the core network 10 as the trusted, internal APIs 18.
• APIs 18 may be considered the "glue" of core network 10, which enable the features and services in the core network 10.
• the internal APIs support the configuration of the communication between the network entities (not shown) within the core network 10.
• the external APIs 22 are accessible to and configurable by third parties, e.g., services providers and, where appropriate, end users.
• third parties e.g., services providers and, where appropriate, end users.
• APIs 22 are the feature extraction pieces that enable third party developers to access and add features and services to the network.
• the external APIs 22 interface with the internal APIs 18 to configure, communicate with and control the network to provide extensibility to the core network 10.
• the external APIs 22 and internal APIs 18 are linked together via a services delivery element 26.
• the services delivery element 26 segregates the sets of APIs, and has a primary purpose to provide security for the internal APIs from untrusted resources.
• These services such as the Call Processing Language from the IPTEL working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) or some features of the Wireless Application Protocol(WAP), enable end users to load executable code into the network. These services cannot be trusted and should not be granted direct access to the core network 10.
• the internal APIs 18 are the system interfaces which enable features and services in the core network 10.
• the internal APIs 18 address the configuration of and communication between the network entities inside both the core and access networks 10 and 12. These interfaces will not be directly accessible external to the core network 10.
• FIG. 3 illustrates a functional architecture for the services delivery element 26 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention.
• the services delivery element 26 may include both a security services element 302 and a translation/API modules element 304.
• FIG. 3 represents the functional elements of the services delivery element 26, and that in an actual physical embodiment of the services delivery element 26, these functional elements may reside in one or more components of the core network 10.
• the security services element 302 provides authentication and validation services to potential service and feature providers of the network.
• access to the core network 10 by external elements i.e., external APIs 22, are via a secure connection across a virtual private network (NPN) connection.
• NPN virtual private network
• the security services element 302 adds a wrapper on top of the internal API that will enable the external feature or service. This arrangement allows the external feature or service to have scalable access to the internal API 18, but through a secure technique. Access to the internal API 18 by the external elements ranges from no access to partial access to full access based on a variety of security variables.
• variables include user based privileges (e.g., service options based on subscription information) and network variables (e.g., based on network usage and load). More generally speaking, the services delivery element 26 enables a layering of restrictions providing greater or lesser authorization to the external element based upon virtually any set of criteria, including without limitations those set forth above.
• connection security between the external API 22 and the internal API 18 may be provided using the IP security protocol (IPSec) from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
• IPSec IP security protocol
• IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
• ESP encapsulation payload
• AH authentication header
• the security delivery element 26 will provide access control, connectionless integrity, data origin authentication, rejection of replayed packets, and confidentiality services. These services will be available for both TCP and UDP streams.
• the services delivery element 26 may be configured to communicate in
• LPSec tunnel mode In this mode of operation, both the external API 22 and the internal API 18 will authenticate and encrypt the entire IP source packet and wrap a new IP header around them.
• ESP in tunnel mode encrypts and optionally authenticates the entire inner IP packet, including the inner IP header.
• AH in tunnel mode authenticates the entire inner IP packet and selected portions of the outer IP header.
• the services delivery element 26/ external API 22 IPSec transmissions will be in tunnel mode, all of the hosts inside the core network 10 will communicate with the external API 22 without implementing IPSec.
• the unprotected packets generated by core network elements are tunneled through the services delivery element 26 by tunnel security associations.
• the internal APIs 18 may interact with the services delivery element 26 via the embedded security layer on the services delivery element 26. This level of security is implemented to authenticate and validate each particular external API 22.
• the services delivery element 26 may be configured to recognize particular external APIs 22.
• one third party vendor may have more access to the core network 10 than others. Such recognition may be based upon being a known services provider, type of service, or other criteria. Establishing such other criteria will be easily recognized by one having ordinary skill in the art.
• the services API 24 will interact with the services delivery element 26 via the embedded Security Layer on the security delivery element 26. This level of security is implemented to authenticate and validate each particular external element, and provide an explicit security layer between the external elements and the core network 10.
• External elements accessing the system via the External APIs 22 may be statically or dynamically associated with the core network 10.
• the operator may configure the core network 10 so that the external API 22 associated with the external service remains statically connected to the core network 10 via this security technique at system initialization.
• the core network 10 interrogates the external element.
• the associated external API 22 registers with the service delivery element 26, and the services delivery element 26 will authenticate the external element and grant the particular external API 22 access privileges based on this authentication.
• the external element becomes a trusted element by obtaining the security information. This implies that an additional layer of software must be considered in addition to the external API 22 or that the external API 22 has a local component, which adds the security parameter.
• a failed security check results in the call to the external API 22 returning an exception.
• the service delivery element 26 may apply additional or alternate treatments in the event of a failed security check.
• the treatment applied may depend on the context of the security check failure. For example, a service usage accounting record may be created for the attempted service request. The record could be populated with specific information regarding the attempt and the reason for the security check failure, i.e., the denial of services.
• additional treatments may be applied.
• an external caller attempting to access the mobile unit 14, but denied access may be connected to a recorded announcement or progress tone to convey the reason that the access was not granted. The external caller might also be directed to a web page to provide additional information about the failed access attempt.
• FIG. 4 An external feature server 402 and its associated services API 404 are coupled via a message layer 406 to a security layer 408.
• the security layer 408 interfaces via the external services API 24 to the services delivery element 26.
• a subscriber may attempt to access a given feature provided by the external element.
• the core network 10 has access to the external element 402 via its associated API 404 and the security delivery element 26, but the subscriber does not have direct access, i.e., security rights, to the feature offerings of the external element.
• the subscriber requests the feature and then the services delivery element 26 passes a token on behalf of the subscriber to the external element.
• the token exchange shown pictorially in FIG. 5, occurs at the start of the service dialog to enable a particular feature server 502 and its associated services API 504 and the associated service data to support the feature.
• Service data may be subscriber data such as profile information, location data, etc.
• An access token 506 is passed between the external API 22 and the services API 504 containing the service request data. It will be appreciated that there may be multiple levels of security checks before this data can be delivered outside the core network 10.
• the token exchange and associated authentication lasts for the duration of the dialogue. It should be noted that the dialogue might be a single service request or equivalent to a registration, which may persist over a number of hours.
• the first external API call establishes the security relationship between the requestor and the external element. For the lifetime of the relationship, the subsequent external API calls are considered as being sourced by a trusted element. This assumes that the requestor has additional software to support the security check.
• an external element may need to gain access to additional resources or data within the core network 10.
• the service API 22 will allow an explicit renegotiation of the security relationship to expand the access granted the external element. This process may also be applied in a reverse fashion to limit the access granted to the external element.
• the relationship may be aged to ensure release of the relationship after a predetermined time. This time out period may also be combined with some other criteria, such as inactivity. Once the time out period has expired the external element would be required to re-establish its secure relationship as described herein.
• the services delivery element 26 includes translation functions 304 and API modules 306(FIG. 3) that translate the service requests from external elements to the known internal API services.
• This translation function will operate similar to a broker function, a protocol adapter, or a protocol gateway function.
• the available services will be determined by the authentication services of the security services offered by the services delivery element 26.
• Java Telephony Application Interface JTAPI
• JTAPI Java Telephony Application Interface
• Other translation protocols that may be supported include PARLAY, Telephony Application Interface (TAPI), Java Advanced Intelligent Network (JAIN) and Telecommunication Information Networking Architecture (TINA), which are illustrated in FIG. 3.
• the invention may be further illustrated by three use cases, of which two are illustrated in FIG. 6.
• An external element 602 is hosted in the End User Services Network 604 co-located within the core network 10,
• An external element 606 is located in or attached to a non-trusted, external network 608 such as the internet, and
• An external element is located in a trusted or non- trusted external network such as a private service provider network (not shown in FIG. 6).
• the end-user services network 604 is a trusted entity in a trusted network within the core network 10.
• the relationship implies a trusted external element accessible over a trusted link.
• the external element 602 is either imbedded in the trusted network or is represented as a trusted core network 10 entity. This case can be thought of as one where certain classes of services such as three-way voice calling, voice call forwarding, paging, electronic mail, and other
• the external element 606 resides in a network 608 attached to the Internet. In this case neither the link to the network 608 where the external element 606 resides nor the external element 606 itself is considered trusted.
• a secure link 610 between the core network 10 and the Internet point of attachment to the packet gateway 612 of the core network 10 must first be established followed by secure access between the mobile unit 14 and the external element 606. As shown in FIG. 6, the mobile unit 14 is provided access to the core network 10 via a trusted element, the services client 614 internal to the core network 10. If there is need for access to resources contained within the core network 10, secure access via security associations 616 is established between the internal APIs 18 and the external element 606, which would automatically invoke the security services in the services delivery element 26.
• the external element resides in an external, trusted, private network. This allows statically or dynamically negotiated trust between networks and between an external element and the core network 10 internal APIs 18 to be negotiated jointly or independently using persistent (i.e., logically or physically) or short-lived link states.
• the present invention has been described in terms of several preferred embodiments. It will be appreciated that the invention may be altered or changed without departing from its fair scope.
• the invention may be applied where an external element, such as an external API, is utilized for remote configuration of elements associated with the core network.
• an external element such as an external API
• Such an implementation would find beneficial use in a system permitting subscriber profile provisioning from a device other than the subscriber device itself.
• the layered restrictions possible through application of the services delivery element are advantageously utilized to increase or decrease authorization criteria, which may be leveraged to offer an external element for remote configuration.
• an external element may have administrative access to the system from an untrusted source.
• the preferred embodiments of the invention are intended to be illustrative and should not be taken as limiting of the broad scope of the invention set forth in -lithe following claims.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
• Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
• Computing Systems (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)
• Data Exchanges In Wide-Area Networks (AREA)

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• 2000
  • 2000-06-20 US US09/597,315 patent/US7451476B1/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2001
  • 2001-05-01 EP EP01930988A patent/EP1303938A4/de not_active Ceased
  • 2001-05-01 WO PCT/US2001/014030 patent/WO2001099334A1/en active Application Filing

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